Israel Hands

Israel Hands was a pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy and Blackbeard's second-in-command.

Biography
Israel Hands was presumably born in England, and he became a pirate and the right-hand man of the feared pirate Blackbeard. Hands originally served aboard Blackbeard's flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge, and it was Hands who showed Blackbeard that HMS Princess of London's medicine crates were from Charles-Towne, South Carolina, leading to the Siege of Charles-Towne. Hands was given command of David Herriot's ship Adventure in March 1718, but the ship was grounded on Beaufort inlet in North Carolina after it failed to pull Queen Anne's Revenge off the sandbar. Hands was rescued by Stede Bonnet, and Hands returned to Blackbeard's crew. Just before the Battle of Ocracoke Inlet, Blackbeard shot Hands in the leg to permanently disable him, preventing him from dying in battle against Royal Navy officer Robert Maynard. Hands was given a pardon after testifying against corrupt North Carolina officials with whom Blackbeard had conspired, and he died a beggar in London.